Emma & Aaron’s Cocktail Bar Wedding in Prahran

Captured by Jimmy Raper, Emma and Aaron’s intimate wedding at Oscar Cooper in Prahran, was all about throwing a party with their nearest and dearest. “The inspiration for the wedding was actually the after party of my sister’s wedding,” shares Emma. “A small group gathered in a bar and ate and drank the rest of the night away.”

Having the ceremony and reception at the same place turned out to be quite helpful, as it was the ideal place to hide out from the thunderstorm that poured rain over Melbourne all day, once they got there of course. “With the help of some champagne and a few taxis we were able to get to the venue pretty dry and calm, though as we were leaving the hotel lost power following a lightning strike. We all managed to laugh as we had to make our way through the fire escape – we were luckily not yet in the elevator, some of the staff got stuck in one for a while!”

The idea to have their celebration at a bar came to them rather serendipitously. “We chose the venue as Aaron and I were looking for a nice cocktail bar on a night out, we walked past Oscar Cooper and were turned away as they were setting up for a wedding reception. That sparked the idea that we could hold our wedding there too. The décor, food, drinks and versatile seating all drew us in.”

Florist Rose Becker of The Eleventh Flower styled with the venue with arrangements of natives, greenery and dramatic reds. The exposed brick, candles and moody lighting set the scene for a cosy celebration. “We had fifty of our closest friends and family attend – we wanted to be able to spend time with each person so it was important to us to keep the wedding intimate.”

MUA Jenna Guy had Emma and her girls looking radiant. “Jenna was amazing, she was there bright and early at 6am to start with our mothers’ makeup. Her makeup was really beautiful, subtle, glowing and gorgeous.”

With 50 of their nearest and dearest, Emma and Aaron’s wedding was an intimate affair. Emma explains, “Our ceremony was conducted by Aaron’s Godmother Cassie (we asked her to become officiated before we realised how much of a process it was) so we asked Alex Moorhouse to legally marry us after our ceremony which was so lovely, a few other celebrants had turned us down.

Emma's maids looked gorgeous in deep red Shone Joy dresses, with moody bouquets by Rose Becker from The Eleventh Flower. Emma tells us the Melbourne florist nailed the brief, “I gave her a simple brief of Australian Natives and lots of moody reds – she knocked it out of the park.”

When a thunder storm crashes your wedding day, it helps to have a photographer that keeps things light and fun. “Jimmy (Raper) was amazing, he was so calm and comforting on the day which started out quite stressful. The photos never felt forced or awkward and he kept us laughing throughout our portraits.”

Emma hadn’t planned to have a cake for the day to cut costs, but fate had other plans! “I actually won an Instagram competition JY Cake Designs held at the One Fine Day Wedding Fair – the prize was a cake of our choosing. Jing’s cake was amazing, the layers were salted caramel mud and matcha raspberry.”

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